Practice Logical Reasoning Questions With Answers

Part 5
21. Several legislators claim that the public finds many current movies so sexually
explicit as to be morally offensive. However, these legislators have misrepresented
public opinion. In a survey conducted by a movie industry guild, only 15 percent
of respondents think that movies are too sexually explicit, and only 4 percent found
any recent movie to be morally offensive. These low percentages are telling
because the respondents see far more current movies than does the average moviegoer.
The reasoning in the argument is flawed in that the argument
(A) attempts to undermine the legislators’ credibility instead of addressing their
argument
(B) bases its conclusion on subjective judgments rather than on an objective
criterion of moral offensiveness
(C) fails to consider the possibility that sexually explicit movies increase the
prevalence of antisocial behavior
(D) generalizes from a sample that is unlikely to be representative of public
sentiment
(E) presumes, without providing justification, that the people surveyed based
their responses on a random sampling of movies
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Practice Logical Reasoning Questions
22. Children who are educated at Evans High School tend to do better than children
who are educated at Gilbert T. Sloan High School. Since Samuel achieved higher
grades than any of his classmates in his first year at the university, he was probably
educated at Evans.
Which one of the following most closely parallels the flawed reasoning in the
argument above?
(A) Quarter Horses are usually taller than Appaloosas. Since Dandy Jim Zip is
taller than the other horses in the competition, he must be a Quarter Horse.
(B) When people make more money, they generally are able to accumulate
more wealth.
(C) When children practice piano scales for half an hour each day, they usually
do extremely well at recitals. Since Hannah practices scales for less than a
half an hour a day, she will have difficulty doing well at her recital.
(D) When children have parents who participate in their education, the children
generally do better in school. Therefore, if parents want to help their children
do better in school, they should participate in their children’s education.
(E) When children study math from an early age, they tend to do better in math
in adulthood. Therefore, if you want to do better in math as an adult, you
should study more as a child.
23. Frustration in response to insults is unreasonable, for insults are merely assertions
that someone has undesirable characteristics. If such an assertion is false, the
insulted party ought to pity the ignorance prompting the insult. If it is true, the
insulted party should be thankful for such useful information.
Which one of the following, if assumed, enables the argument’s conclusion to be
properly drawn?
(A) Actions prompted by ignorance do not warrant negative reactions.
(B) Frustration is an unreasonable response to useful information.
(C) Frustration is an unreasonable response to any action that should prompt
pity or gratitude.
(D) Gratitude and pity are reasonable responses to some forms of hostile or
insensitive behavior.
(E) Pity is the only reasonable reaction to people with undesirable characteristics.

Answers and Explanations

 21. The best answer is D. This is a flaw question. Answer choice D points out that
the statistical evidence the movie industry guild relies on is questionable because
the sample is unlikely to be representative of the population at large. Answer
choice A is incorrect because the guild is not engaging in ad hominem argument.
Answer choice B is incorrect because, since neither side of the argument offers any
objective measure of moral offensiveness, it cannot be a flaw for one side to fail to
do so. (Of course, it is unlikely that any objective measure of moral offensiveness
could be formulated.) Answer choices C and E are irrelevant to the argument’s
conclusion.
22. The best answer is A. This is a parallel structure question. The stimulus argument
makes the error of ascribing group differences to individual members of the group.
Answer choice A commits the same error. Just because members of one group
usually exhibit certain characteristics, it does not mean that each member of the
group exhibits those characteristics. A secondary error in the stimulus argument is
also repeated in answer choice A: We don’t know the comparison group for our
individual member. In other words, in the stimulus argument, we don’t know the
makeup of the students at the university. They might all, including Samuel, come
from Gilbert T. Sloan High School. Similarly, all the horses in the competition,
including Dandy Jim Zip, might be Appaloosas.
23. The best answer is C. This is an assumption question. If frustration is mutually
exclusive of either pity or gratitude, the conclusion, that frustration in response to
insults is unreasonable, is properly drawn. Each of the other answer choices is
irrelevant to the conclusion.